Protestant church question

In My Humble Opinion
1

Growing up Catholic, I’ve always wondered about those Protestant demoninations that are divvied up into numerous groups. For example, Lutherans are divided into Brethern, ECLA, Missouri Synod, etc. I want to know from members of those denominations:

  1. Do you care which specific group you go to, or does any of your favorite demonination do?
  2. Is it really easy to spot the difference between them (by appearence, type of memeber, etc.)?
  3. When you move to a new area, did you have to check out the various churches of your denomination or was the type of church you like to go to obvious just by the group name?
2

There are vast differences between stripes of Lutheran and Presbyterian. There are some that I wouldn’t go to at all. My buddy used to go to Hollywood Presbyterian (yes, that Holllywood), and they basically said that when the time finally came that the head council or whatever voted in gay pastors, they would be leaving the group.

I don’t go to a traditional denomination church, but a mini-denom called Vineyard. It came largely out of Calvary Chapel, but there are differences between the two that make me not enthusiastic about attending CC.

I don’t think you can spot the differences on sight. Can you pick Catholics out of a crowd?

3

I think he meant the difference in the churches, not the congregations! :slight_smile:

4

No, but I can spot a Jesuit church the minute I walk through the door. They have different images than, say, a Franciscan church, and both of those have a lot more images than the notoriously-iconoclast Augustins.

Very different theological styles, too.

5

Well, the Brethren are the Brethren, a denomination unto themselves.

I’m a Lutheran, and I grew up in the old ALC, which merged with the LCA to become tha ELCA. I’ve also belonged to the Missouri Synod for a long time as an adult.

I can’t speak for the ALC, but the origin of the LCA was rooted in the Scandinavian Lutheran churches, and the Missouri Synod has roots in the German church. In practice, the modern Missouri Synod was more politically and doctrinally conservative than the ELCA and it’s predecessors, though this distinction has blurred/mellowed in the past few years.

6

I was Anglican until a couple years ago, and I’m becoming Catholic.

*1) Do you care which specific group you go to, or does any of your favorite demonination do? *
Yes, Anglicans tend, by and large, to prefer Anglican churches which lean towards whatever their preferences are theologically or in terms or service style. Anglican churches can be all over the map theologically, from very conservative to very liberal, but all use one of two particular forms of liturgy. The older form, the Book of Common Prayer, is somewhat like the Novus Ordo in tone and language, minus the saints’ intercessory stuff and the veneration of Mary.

2) Is it really easy to spot the difference between them (by appearance, type of memeber, etc.)?
I’d say the members of a lot of very conservative Protestant denominations sometimes, but not always, are visually distinguishable. Many of them practice modest dress, the women tend to have long hair, and some do headcovvering and only skirts for women. Outside the extremely conservative ones, no real identifying marks. I guess you could pick Catholics out by scapulars or religious medals or something.

The building style can be telling. Anglican and probably Lutheran (don’t have any experience with Lutheran but I know they are Eucharistic and have liturgy) will probably have an altar, and crosses. A lot of Baptist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ churches will have a front area, and a lectern. No altar, very little to no religious imagery.

In terms of service, churches that aren’t Anglican or Lutheran will tend to be more sermon-centred than communion-centred. Charistmatic and evangelical churches will tend to have more free prayer, and a better chance of someone speaking in tongues. The Free Brethren have no liturgy, and women aren’t allowed to lead or pray in service. It’s hard to generalize because ‘Protestant’ is such a huge spectrum.

Within denominations, yes, I do think people care about which branch the church they attend is. A lot of the splits have been theological or over worship styles, and people will tend to follow whichever branch they thinks is most correct, or they are most comfortable within.

3) When you move to a new area, did you have to check out the various churches of your denomination or was the type of church you like to go to obvious just by the group name?
As an Anglican, I would go to Anglican services in the area, and pray for liturgy and good music. I have never been comfortable attending Baptist, Pentecostal, or other mainstream Protestant services because of my attachment to liturgy and hymns. I also wouldn’t attend Anglican churches that had abandoned the Book of Common Prayer.

I haven’t been to enough different Catholic churches yet to spot all the differences. I look forward to exploring.

7

When I was growing up, we rarely would take trips that involved being out of town on a sunday, mostly because we were all involved in the church in some way. My mom was a sunday school teacher, my brother and I were both in the choir and sang solos often, I was one of the church pianists etc, but if we were out of town we’d find a non-denom church that seemed close to our home one.

I went to church for a while after I left home and ended up at a presbyterian church that followed the more formal structure (“high church”) which was what I was used to. Plus they used the more traditional hymns that I had grown up with. So for me it wasn’t the name so much as the style that I was drawn to.

8

I grew up in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).

  1. While I have and would attend a Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod (LCMS)service, I would not consider joining one. The 2 groups differ quite a bit on several things. The infallacy of the bible (LCMS views it as without any errors, ELCA leaves open the possibility). The role of women in the church (last I heard, LCMS still doesn’t ordain women). Open vs closed communion (open communion welcomes all who take communion in their own church, close admits only members).
    The LCMS site has a decent FAQ on the differences between themselves and other lutheran groups.
  2. One the street, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between an ELCA and a LCMS member. Looking at a church building, without reading the sign, I can’t tell the difference. Attending a single service, I might be able to tell the difference, depending on the sermon given. Over several services, it’s almost a given that I could tell.
  3. Moving to a new area, I check out the local churchss, to find one that I feel comfortable in. There can be wide differences between churches of the same synod. Liberal vs conservative. Traditional vs Modern. Energetic vs Contemplative.
9

I was raised Catholic, made a detour through the United Church of Christ and currently am a member of an ELCA Lutheran congregation.

When my wife and I were scouting the church, the minister explained the differences between ELCA and Missouri Synod by simply saying, “We come out of the Scandinavian tradition. We’re the fun Lutherans.”

There are two things that strike me about Protestant churches:

  1. Many of the most theologically liberal churches have some of the most conservative, traditional worship services. The U.C.C. church I went to traced its service back to the Puritans, but was strikingly liberal.

  2. You can’t tell a church by its service. The ELCA worship rite is nearly identical to the Missouri Synod – in fact, I think they use the same hymnal. Both of them strongly resemble Catholic or Episcopalian liturgies. The similarities end there.

Where I live there are four different flavors of Presbyterians, and probably a few unaffiliated churches that have Presbyterian in the names. I wouldn’t even begin to try to parse out the differences in what they believe.

10

What’s the difference between Vineyard and CC? I have a friend who is very active in our local CC. I’ve never heard him mention anything about Vineyard.

11

[Theology/church culture hat firmly ON] I’ve just bought a book that’s a history of the Vineyard, and I had never realized how much Vineyard came out of CC. John Wimber was converted into the Friends church (Quakers), but when he took over the Vineyard, which was really just a tiny branch of CC (where Keith Green and Bob Dylan went), he fairly soon had various CC churches crossing over to The Vineyard.

The differences I would say, having also been informed by the book, are an emphasis on practicing spiritual gifts without going off into “tongues is essential for everyone”, an “everyone plays” attitude (it’s the entire congregation who are ministers, and it’s not just the ordained pastors who pray and minister to people), and a decided emphasis on “we work now, and don’t just hole up and be righteous and wait for Jesus to return”. That last attitude was pointedly referenced in the book.

To this, I would add that Vineyard pointedly does not act like Jesus is a Republican. Except for some more clearly moral-political issues like abortion, they avoid hinting how you should vote, and got mad when someone put essentially-Republican flyers on all the cars in the parking lot. They also don’t mention evolution as a work of the devil, which as a science teacher, means quite a lot to me. They also don’t act like Target saying “Happy Holidays” is something to get worked up about. They’d rather be too busy doing something productive.

CC probably doesn’t mention Vineyard much, as it’s unfortunately been a bit tense over the years between the two. Also, I get the impression that Chuck Smith might be a bit hurt over those churches leaving and becoming Vineyards. In Southern California, if you are Protestant, you almost have to be aware of CC, but worldwide, Vineyard has more congregations, because of both church plants and congregation switches, mostly in the UK and South Africa. Wikipedia: “over 1650 churches worldwide”.

This has been brought to you by the letter V, and my personal opinions. Hi!, CC attenders!

12

I’m a member of the United Church of Christ, a denomination that is descended from four different historic Protestant denominations, Congregationalist, Christian, Reformed, and Evangelical.

Currently, the closest historically-related denominations to the United Church of Christ would probably be the continuing Congregationalist churches, such as the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC) and the National Association of Congregational Christian churches (NACCC) and also the Disciples of Christ and Churches of Christ. However, I would probably not feel comfortable worshipping in any churches that belong to the above denominations (with the exception of the Disciples of Christ) because I am now most certainly a proud mainline Protestant who finds the CCCC, most congregations in the NACCC, and Churches of Christ a bit too scary for me (don’t the Churches of Christ still disallow instrumental music or something?).

I would prefer to always attend only UCC churches, primarily because of the General Synod’s progressive stance on gay rights, as well as the fact that UCC churches tend to place a greater emphasis on social justice than other denominations do. Even so, I would probably feel at home in any mainline denomination, liberal congregations in the Presbyterian USA, ELCA, Disciples, United Methodist, and Episcopalian churches are probably closer to what I am used to than any of the historically-related Congregationalist denominations.

13

I live not too far from the world headquarters of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Most of the Lutheran churches in the area (and the local seminary) are Missouri Synod.

When we moved here ~30 years ago, my parents switched to the LCMS, and even as a little kid I could tell the difference in the service and liturgy. My parents still belong to an LCMS church, my brother’s family does not, and while my parents think that I do that is only because I haven’t disabused them of the notion.

The LCMS is excessively conservative for a Protestant church, and being so close to the HQ the local pastors seem even more so. When visiting other Lutheran churches in the area, the difference in attitude is striking. I can often tell which synod a Lutheran church’s affiliation is with – if the congregation is older and more affluent, and families with young children have a lot of children, then its probably LCMS. They’re eerily similar to local Catholic parishes, in many ways.

14

The three churches I’ve mainly attended-
Christian & Missionary Alliance (Age nine to nineteen)
Assemblies of God (Age nineteen to present, which is age 44)
Roman Catholic Church (Rarely- but up to age eight; Regularly
while in Grad School- Age 21, as there was no AoG near campus
& I wanted to re-try the RCC).

Now, churches I’d probably feel comfy in- Vineyard, Foursquare Gospel,
charismatic-friendly traditional Protestant. I can appreciate any liturgical
style. While I could visit mainline-to-liberal Protty churches, I couldn’t join
or attend regularly due to differences in social-political beliefs & doctrinal
emphases. I know there are also overly uptight congregations which I may
agree with doctrinally & social-politically but couldn’t stand personally.

As long as I live here & nothing radical happens, I don’t see myself leaving
my local Assembly of God. If I moved somewhere else, I might just seek out
a charismatic-friendly Anglican (AMIA) church.